Archrock (NYSE:AROC) Downgraded by Zacks Research to Hold

Key Points

• Zacks Research downgraded Archrock (NYSE:AROC) from a "strong-buy" to a "hold", though the Street consensus remains a Moderate Buy with an average price target of $39.00 and nine analysts still rating the stock as Buy.
• Archrock beat quarterly EPS estimates ($0.69 vs. $0.40) and reported revenue up 15.5% year-over-year, with strong profitability (net margin ~21.6%), despite a slight revenue miss versus analysts' expectations.
• Insiders have sold roughly 179,963 shares (~$6.34M) in the past three months—including a large CFO sale—while institutional/hedge fund ownership is very high at about 95.5%.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

AROC has been the subject of a number of other reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Archrock from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Wall Street Zen cut Archrock from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, March 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Archrock from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Citigroup increased their price target on Archrock from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on Archrock from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $39.00.

Archrock Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:AROC opened at $36.29 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.36 billion, a PE ratio of 19.83, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.91. Archrock has a 12-month low of $21.17 and a 12-month high of $37.72. The business has a 50 day moving average of $35.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The energy company reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $377.07 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $378.04 million. Archrock had a return on equity of 23.57% and a net margin of 21.63%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.34 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Archrock will post 1.09 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Doug S. Aron sold 98,050 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.76, for a total transaction of $3,408,218.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 484,337 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $16,835,554.12. This trade represents a 16.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Donna A. Henderson sold 10,413 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.74, for a total value of $382,573.62. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,757 shares in the company, valued at $1,019,792.18. This trade represents a 27.28% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 179,963 shares of company stock worth $6,336,907 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.90% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Archrock

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV boosted its position in Archrock by 1.7% during the first quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 18,744 shares of the energy company's stock worth $652,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc. increased its stake in Archrock by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc. now owns 12,000 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $312,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its position in Archrock by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 10,290 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $268,000 after acquiring an additional 366 shares during the period. Severin Investments LLC grew its position in Archrock by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Severin Investments LLC now owns 20,111 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $523,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its position in Archrock by 71.0% during the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 971 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 403 shares during the period. 95.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Archrock

Archrock, Inc is a Houston‐based provider of natural gas compression services and equipment to the oil and gas industry in North America. Founded in 2004, the company supplies both short‐term rentals and long‐term contracts for compression solutions, serving upstream and midstream producers. Archrock's offerings include engineered compression systems, aftermarket parts, maintenance and field services designed to optimize wellhead and pipeline operations.

The company's core business activities focus on the design, manufacture, rental and sale of gas compression equipment.

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